The Ethical Challenges of Managing Pilgrimages to the Holy
Land
Stephen Sizer
1. Introduction
Israel and the Occupied Territories comprise a unique location, born out of the
ravages of war and the Holocaust, it's 20,000 square miles of territory claimed by two
peoples, the Jews and Palestinians, its holy sites shared uneasily by three religions,
Jewish, Moslem and Christian, often in close proximity as at the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem or the Tomb of the Patriarchs at Hebron. According to Barbara Tuchman,
"more blood has been shed for Palestine than for any other spot on earth" (1957:viii).
To Protestant England it was as Lord Curzon eulogised, "the holiest space of ground
on the face of the globe," not only the land of the Scriptures and of the Crusades, but
also the land "to which all our faces are turned when we are finally laid in our graves
in the churchyard" (Tuchman, 1957:viii). It is the geographical junction between East
and West, the bridgehead between three continents, and throughout history the focal
point in the military strategies of succeeding empires. Few countries attract so much
media coverage, or arouse such intense religious feeling and political controversy.
The pilgrimage and tourist industry, which brings just under two million people from
around the world to the Holy Land every year, is both a microcosm and perpetuator of
these tensions and divisions. In 1994 there were 300,800 visitors from Britain of
whom approximately 20% were pilgrims. In the period January-June 1996 there were
109,638 visitors from the UK (Israel Government Tourist Office, 1995, 1996). Sadly,
the indigenous Church is largely ignored by the many thousands of Christian
pilgrimage groups whose itineraries involve visiting a predictable succession of
archaeological sites and Christian shrines, which vary only according to the
denomination of the group and number of days present in the land. That so many
Western Christians visit the Holy Land and yet have little or no contact with the
indigenous Christian community, is a serious ethical issue with important theological
implications not only for the unity and vitality of the church, but also for its very
survival in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
2. The Detrimental Impact of Religious Tourism to Israel and the Occupied
Territories
Many Western pilgrims appear not only ignorant of recent Middle East history but
surprised to find an Arab Christian presence at all. Even where Christian visitors are
aware of this fact, their behaviour obliterates it. Worshipping with their own priest or
minister in a closed chapel, shrine or even hotel, their pilgrimage would be no
different if the oldest Christian communities in the world had been obliterated long
ago (Macpherson, 1993).
The ethical issues involved in promoting pilgrimages to the Holy Land and their
impact on the Palestinian Christian community are therefore considerable (Council of
Churches for Britain and Ireland (CCBI) 1992: 2-3). Typical Western perceptions of
Orientals still appear to be based on 19th Century colonial stereotypes, formed at a
time when Europe controlled 85% of the world (Eber, 1993:2-3). These are further
reinforced and exploited by contemporary Zionist propaganda (Said, 1978:166). The
Palestinians, whether Moslem or Christian are often branded as terrorists because of
their support for violent as well as non-violent opposition to continued Israeli
settlement of the Occupied Territories.
Western Christians have for a variety of reasons tended to show greater sympathy for
the state of Israel than for the condition of the Palestinian people. At the same time,
during the cold war and subsequently, American and British foreign policy have
consistently viewed Israel as an important ally in the Middle East. With the demise of
Soviet Communism, the new enemy for both right wing religious Fundamentalists
and politicians alike is militant Islam. These perceptions inevitably exacerbate the
vulnerability of Palestinian Christians, since they are a minority among Moslem
Arabs as well as among the Jews within a Zionist state. For Moslem Fundamentalists
who equate "Arabism" with Islam, Palestinian Christians are an anomaly, guilty by
association with European imperialism dating back to the Crusades (Armstrong,
1988).
Contemporary pilgrimage research reveals that in this Century there has been a
gradual decline in the level of contact between pilgrim parties and Palestinian
Christians (Ekin, 1990:25. This has in part been due to tighter control of the
pilgrimage industry by the Israeli Government Ministry of Tourism, especially since
1967, when the main sites of biblical significance were appropriated by Israel from
Jordan, along with the registration of Palestinian guides, hotels and travel agencies
(Bowman, 1992a:121-134.
This problem is compounded by semantics and propaganda. Is the "Holy Land"
Palestine or Israel, and if Israel, which Israel? Neutrality is a rare luxury, and difficult
to sustain, linguistically or ethically, given the Palestinian's demand for justice and
Israel's need for security, more so since language is both a subtle indicator of
presuppositions and a powerful tool of propaganda.
3. Types of Protestant Pilgrimage
Within the very broad diversity of Christian tradition, three particular types of
Protestant pilgrimage may be discerned (figure 1).
·
Types of Pilgrimage
Emphasis of the Tour
Effect on Indigenous Church
· Evangelical
Biblical Sites of the Past
Indifference and ignorance
· Fundamentalist
Eschatological Signs of the Future
Antipathy and antagonism
· Living Stones
Human Significance in the Present
Empathy and solidarity
Figure 1. Types of Protestant Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
Evangelicals go essentially to visit the sites of biblical significance on what are
primarily educational tours. These in themselves will only perpetuate and reinforce a
pietistic faith rooted in the 1st Century, without addressing either the present Middle
East conflict or necessarily engaging in theological praxis. The presence of an ancient
and Oriental Christianity is either ignored, misunderstood or even criticised for
desecrating the archaeological sites with what are often regarded as pagan shrines.
Fundamentalist pilgrims visit the Holy Land for similar reasons but with the added
eschatological dimension, believing themselves to be witnessing and indeed
participating in the purposes of God, at work within Israel in these 'Last Days'. They
believe they have a divine mandate to support the state of Israel.
The third, most recent and smallest category of pilgrimage to emerge is associated
with the term 'Living Stones'. These pilgrimages in contradistinction seek to counter
the ignorance of many Evangelicals and the harm caused by Fundamentalists, by
engaging in acts of solidarity with the Palestinian church. These pilgrimages include
opportunities to meet, worship with, listen to and learn from the spirituality and
experience of the indigenous Christians.
4. Categories of Holy Land Tour Operator
Four categories of Pilgrimage Tour Operator emerge: First, a small number of secular
companies offer what are really religious tourist package holidays; second, the
majority of companies offer biblical-educational tours; third, a small but influential
group of Zionist or Israeli owned companies concentrate on the Jewish dimension to
the Christian faith; and fourth, only a handful of Operators actively encourage contact
with the Palestinian church. In terms of comparative influence, if the first group are
benign, and the second blind, the third appear bigoted, and only the fourth offer any
genuine dialogue or intercourse between pilgrims and Palestinian Christians (Figure
2). Based on a series of interviews, the majority of Operators appear ignorant of the
ethical issues implicit in their business; fail to recognise how they are manipulated by
the Israeli authorities; or see how detrimental their trade is to the indigenous Christian
community. Based on this evidence it is not surprising that so few pilgrimage groups
ever meet with Palestinians.
Types of Tour Operator
Nature of Tour Offered
Effect on Indigenous
Christians
Secular
Specialist Package Holiday
Irrelevant
Christian
Biblical Archaeology & Sites Experience
Ignored
Israeli or Zionist
Bible from Jewish Perspective PerspectivePerspectiveDimension
Antagonistic
Living Stones
Encountering the People PeopleEncouraging Contact
Encouragement
Figure 2. Categories of Holy Land Tour Operators
5. Consequences for the Indigenous Palestinians
The consequences of the ignorance or indifference of British Christians and Tour
Operators results in significant detrimental effects felt by Palestinians living in the
Holy Land and especially the Christian minority (Figure 3).
The Deleterious Consequences Experienced by Palestinians
Dispossession of their land by quasi-judicial confiscation.
Pervasive racial discrimination inherent in an apartheid system denying basic human
rights.
Invisibility, hidden from the touristic gaze of Western pilgrims.
Persistent misrepresentation through the Israeli exploitation of the media and
propaganda.
Emigration and depletion of the Palestinian Christian community in Israel and the
West Bank.
Figure 3. Deleterious Consequences of Traditional Pilgrimages for the Palestinians
These cumulative consequences have led to a seriously diminished Christian presence
that now threatens their very survival in the Holy Land.
6. Deficiencies Inherent in Most Protestant Pilgrimages
The deficiencies inherent in the majority of Protestant pilgrimages undertaken to the
Holy Land appear essentially threefold (Figure 4).
Major Deficiencies Inherent in the Majority of Western Pilgrimages
A preoccupation with a pietistic religious experience based upon visits to locations of
Biblical significance which perpetuates the separation of Christian faith from practice.
The absence of any contact with the indigenous Christian church reinforces the
ignorance of, and stereotyping by, each community of the other.
The failure of pilgrims to question or challenge the causes of the deep suffering and
injustice Palestinians continue to face in the very land where Jesus Christ came,
contradicting his work of bringing peace and reconciliation to the world.
Figure 4. Three Essential Deficiencies of the Majority of Protestant Pilgrimages
For pilgrimage groups and organisers, to continue to ignore the presence of a local
Christian community, is a perversion of what pilgrimage could and should be about.
The lack of contact between Christians perpetuates ignorance and complacency for
pilgrims and injustice and despair for Palestinians. It is ultimately to treat the Holy
Land as nothing more than an entertaining religious theme park, and will only hasten
the day when Palestinian Christians become extinct in the Holy Land, their heritage
forgotten and their churches turned into museums.
The litmus test for distinguishing between different kinds of pilgrimages and religious
tourism is, it is suggested, the attitude of the organisers and participants toward the
presence of an indigenous Christian Church. Are they visible or invisible? Are they
respected or repudiated? Visited or ignored?
Local Christians are caught in a degree of museumization. They are aware of tourists
who come in great volume from the West to savour holy places but who are, for the
most part, blithely disinterested in the people who indwell them. The pain of the
indifference is not eased insofar as the same tourism is subtly manipulated to make
the case for the entire legitimacy of the statehood that regulates it. (Cragg, 1992:28)
Probably as many as 95% of Christian pilgrimage groups visiting the Holy Land have
a detrimental affect on the indigenous Christian community (figure 5).
Figure 5. The Cumulative Effect of Traditional Pilgrimages
7. The Ethical Issues Encountered in Promoting Responsible Tourism to the Holy
Land
The ethical issues and decisions encountered in promoting responsible tourism to the
Holy Land are considerable and complex. They may, however, be broken down into
two categories: those issues upon which Tour Operators and pilgrimage group leaders
have little or no control due to the policies of the Israeli government (Figure 6); and
those decisions over which they have some influence (Figure 7).
Ethical Issues Encountered on Pilgrimages Determined by Israeli Government Policy
Intensive questioning at British and Israeli airports by Israeli security personnel often
occurs well beyond that required for flight security. Questions asked relating to travel
plans and contact with Palestinians are probably designed to intimidate and gather
intelligence. How far should tour groups comply or refuse to answer questions beyond
those that relate to baggage, flight and airport security?
Restricted access by pilgrims to locations in the Occupied Territories, on the spurious
grounds of security measures, e.g. travel to places like Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho,
Nablus and Gaza may be curtailed under locally imposed 'closed military orders'.
Should Tour groups protest at these restrictions or seek to evade them by choosing
alternative routes?
Tourist hotel and restaurant facilities on Kibbutzim such as at Ein Gev in Galilee,
Banias in the Golan and Engeddi on the Dead Sea are built on confiscated land within
the Occupied Territories of former Jordan and Syria. Should pilgrimage groups make
use of these facilities and become complicit by association?
Access to Christian Guides is severely restricted. Only a handful of Palestinian
Guides have been trained and licensed since 1967 by the state of Israel. This means
that invariably Christian pilgrimage groups will be led by an Israeli Guide. Should
pilgrimage groups employ non-licensed Palestinian guides?
Restrictions imposed on the renovation or extension of Palestinian hotels in locations
such as East Jerusalem means that the number of beds within the Arab sector has
remained static since 1967 while Israeli West Jerusalem has benefited from
Government subsidies and massive expansion. Should Tour Operators continue to use
poorer quality Palestinian hotels or the better Israeli ones?
Guide books, maps and promotional literature provided by the Israeli Government
Ministry of Tourism renders invisible the presence of an indigenous Christian
community. Should Tour Operators use this free literature?
Figure 6. Ethical issues determined by Israeli government policy
To a large degree acceptance of these restrictions and the orchestrated Israeli agenda
for Holy Land pilgrimages is difficult to resist without causing inconvenience or
anxiety to tour participants; endangering the future licensing and livelihood of
Palestinian agents, guides or coach drivers; or the profitability of Tour Operators. For
example, following the shooting of two British tourists near Eilat in southern Israel in
August 1997, allegedly by an Arab, in what the British Foreign Office described as "a
straight forward criminal act", the Israeli Embassy in London exploited the tension by
claiming in advice to foreign tourists,
Entry to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is being very tightly controlled, and
visitors are very strongly discouraged from trying to go there. Elsewhere normal rules
apply. (Owen, 1997:2)
Subsequently it transpired that the attack was the work of an Israeli who had been a
member of an undercover military team involved in the assassination of Palestinian
political activists in Gaza.
There are, however, some ethical choices and decisions which Tour Operators and
individual tour group leaders have considerable freedom to make, whether
intentionally or by default (Figure 7).
Summary of Ethical Decisions Faced by Holy Land Tour Operators and Group
Leaders
Choice of airline carrier between BA and El Al, the State controlled and funded Israeli
airline on grounds of commercial interest or on principle.
Wording of own promotional literature and maps. To include reference to Israel and
the Occupied Territories or use the euphemism 'Holy Lands'.
To provide maps that distinguish or hide the Green Line.
Whether or not to accept Israeli Government Ministry of Tourism subsidies and
promotional literature in advertising tours to Israel; e.g. State sponsored free glossy
brochures which Operators may overprint with their own details come stamped with
the controversial 'Jerusalem 3000' logo.
Choice of Israeli tour agents, guides, coach company and hotels. To choose Jewish or
Palestinian services on grounds of commercial interest or on principle.
Content of itineraries promoted. To offer what is popular and avoids controversy or
encourage tour group leaders to address the contemporary issues on their pilgrimages.
To encourage contact with the indigenous Christian communities or to leave it to
individual tour group leaders to decide.
Level of payment made for local services and recommended amount for backsheesh.
On the basis of market forces or what is fair. N.B. Palestinians tend to be paid much
less than Israelis fulfilling the same role.
_________________________________________________________________
Figure 7. Ethical Decisions Faced by Tour Operators and Group Leaders
8. Responsible Pilgrimages: Some Proposals
In addressing these complex and controversial ethical issues associated with
managing and promoting pilgrimages and religious tourism to Israel and the Occupied
Territories, what constitutes responsible tourism? In the light of this research, the
following nine distinctive characteristics are offered as a basis for further discussion
and investigation (Figure 8).
Summary of Distinctive Characteristics of Responsible Pilgrimages to the Holy Land
Preparation before visit with reading material on the historical and political
background to the Arab-Israeli conflict, preferably including texts by indigenous
Christian leaders.
Meetings with indigenous Christians and representatives during pilgrimage.
Visits to Christian projects within itinerary such as schools, hospitals and other
agencies.
Worship on Sundays with local Christians avoiding travel where possible.
Employment of indigenous Christian Guides and Palestinian services whenever
available.
Stay at Christian hospices and hostels or Palestinian hotels.
Meet with Jewish and Moslem representatives working for peace through justice and
reconciliation.
Seek to develop long term partnership relationships with indigenous Christian
communities and serving mission agencies.
Become advocates for the indigenous Palestinian Church on return from pilgrimage.
Figure 8. Summary of the distinctive characteristics of responsible tourism to the
Holy Land
The essential task for those who aspire to promoting responsible tourism and religious
pilgrimages to Israel and the Occupied Territories is to face the twofold challenge of
discovering and then implementing the ways and means by which the tourism
industry can bring benefit to the Palestinian economy and Christian communities.
They need contact and work while we need local guides, hotels, and transport services.
If we are to avoid the creation of a Christian Disney World managed by expatriates
but devoid of indigenous Christians, it is imperative that these communities be given
the opportunity to become self-sustaining, ensuring not merely their survival into the
next millennium but also their growth and prosperity. Solidarity and partnership
through responsible tourism is one answer.
Biography
The Revd. Dr. Stephen Sizer is Vicar of Virginia Water, Surrey, England. He has been
managing pilgrimages to the Holy Land for about ten years. He completed a Masters
degree in 1994 and a Doctorate in 1997 which both involved research into the impact
`of pilgrimages upon the indigenous Christian community of Israel and the Occupied
Territories. He is also a director and trustee of Highway Journeys, a Christian travel
agency owned by a charitable trust committed to promoting responsible tourism.
Questions
1. What parallels are there, if any, with ethical issues encountered in tourism to other
countries experiencing political tension?
2. How can the cause of responsible tourism to the Holy Land be enhanced from the
experience of those engaged in tourism to other countries?
3. What practical steps should be taken to enhance the Palestinian tourist economy?
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